360 Speaker Series: Tony Tasset

January 19, 2014

Acclaimed artist Tony Tasset’s work combines aspects of American visual culture with folk art, minimalism and conceptual art. Tasset’s 30-foot sculpture, Eye, creates a spectacle that draws attention to the simple act of looking and to the instrument through which we take in and understand our world.

The Nasher’s ongoing speaker series features conversations and lectures on the ever-expanding definition of sculpture and the minds behind some of the world’s most innovative artwork, architecture, and design.

Tony Tasset (b. 1960) is an American artist who lives and works in Chicago. Tasset’s practice explores popular culture from both high and low sources. The artist’s recent bodies of work combine Tasset’s interests in Americana, folk art and the history of American visual culture with minimalism, conceptual art, and modern art histories and aesthetics. Recent visitors to downtown Dallas will recognize Tasset’s Eye, installed across from the Joule Hotel + Shops. At 30 feet tall, Eye is a realistic three-dimensional re-creation of a human eyeball with a blue iris, based on the artist’s own eye. The enormous scale of the sculpture strives to change everyday experience by effectively miniaturizing its surroundings as well as by creating a spectacle that draws attention to the simple act of looking and to the instrument through which we take in and understand our world.

Sponsors

Support for the 360 series is underwritten in part by Sylvia Hougland, in honor of her husband, Curtis Hougland.